Comparison of the clinical effectiveness of thermal cure and rehabilitation in knee osteoarthritis. A randomized therapeutic trial.
Ann Phys Rehabil Med
; 57(9-10): 561-9, 2014 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25447748
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To compare the benefits of a thermal cure and non-thermal rehabilitation in treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA).METHODS:
Randomized therapeutic trial including patients with knee osteoarthritis (American College of Rheumatology criteria). Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Spa treatment consisted of underwater shower, massage-jet showers, hydromassage, pool rehabilitation and peloid therapy. Non-thermal rehabilitation consisted of analgesic physiotherapy, muscle strengthening and group physical rehabilitation. A blinded evaluation was carried out at day 21 and 12months following treatment. It was based on the visual analogic scale of pain (VAS), which represented the primary endpoint.RESULTS:
Two hundred and forty patients were included (February-June 2005). The spa treatment and non-thermal rehabilitation groups included 119 and 121 patients respectively. Two hundred and thirty-three patients completed their treatments. Significant improvement of the visual analogic scale of pain was noted in the thermal cure group (61.6±15 at day 0 versus 46.5±22.4 at 12months, P<0.001), but not in the non-thermal group (64.1±15 at day 0 versus 62±29 at 12months, P=0.68). At day 21, comparison of the two groups revealed no significant difference on the VAS (P=0.08). However, at 12months, the thermal cure group was significantly more improved (P=0.000).CONCLUSION:
In our study, crenobalneotherapy had resulted, at 12months, in more pronounced long-term improvement of the painful symptoms of KOA than had non-thermal rehabilitation.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Balneology
/
Osteoarthritis, Knee
/
Resistance Training
/
Hydrotherapy
/
Analgesics
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Etiology_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Phys Rehabil Med
Year:
2014
Document type:
Article